100 Things You Should Know About People: #9 — Blue and Red Together is Hard On Your Eyes (Chromostereopsis)
Alternating blue and red bars
Red text on a blue background
What is it about red and blue? — When lines (or letters) of different colors are projected or printed, the depths of the lines may appear to be different; lines of one color may “jump out” while lines of another color are recessed. This effect is called Chromostereopsis. This effect is strongest with red and blue, but it can also happen with other colors (for example, red and green).
So what? – In addition to causing a depth effect, chromostereopsis can also be annoying and hard on the eyes. It is fatiguing. Although there are different theories as to why your eyes react to these color combinations in the way that they do, the important thing to remember is that they do.
What should you do about it? – If you are a visual or web designer make sure that you are not using red and blue together in this way. I still find web sites that have this color combination. Here are a few!
Example of a website with red and blue
Example of a website with red and blue
Example of a website with red and blue
What examples have you found?
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[...] What Makes Them Click » Blog Archive » 100 Things You Should Know About People: #9 — Chromostere… When people see different colors close to each other there is the possibility of an effect called chromostereopsis. The depths of the lines appear to be different — one color jumps out and the other color recedes. This is most prominent with the colors red and blue, although it can happen with other colors as well: (tags: color websites screen) Leave a Comment [...]